The main objective of the Westview Robotics Team is to participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Students wishing to participate in the competition must:

- Join the Club
- Demonstrate important characteristics such as dedication, respect, teamwork and gracious professionalism
- Follow the rules described in the handbook
- Work a minimum number of hours (TBD) as Team members, from January to end of February.

The Team and Club have different rules and requirements. No previous experience is necessary. A Robotics Course is also being added to the Westview HS curriculum with the help of Team leaders. Registering for the course is not mandatory but highly recommended. Taking the class or joining the Club do no place the student automatically in the Team. All students must apply to join the Team.

ROBOTICS CLUB

The Robotics Team leaders founded the Robotics Club with the objective to prepare students for the FIRST Robotics Competition and also expose them to different areas of engineering.

The Club runs from September to end of November. There will be a $10 fee to signup for the Club. The fee will help us to have a updated roster, required by the school. After that only students that passes the application process Team will continue meeting. The Club is run by the Team Coach and Team Captains with the help of mentors and parent volunteers. Teachers are welcome and encouraged to help.

Students will be expected to follow a set of rules and sign some forms. These documents will include Safety Test, Membership Contract and Club regulations. There is no time commitment to be part of the Club but it will be considered when applying to the Team.

The Club meets on Tuesdays, immediately after school, at Westview HS. All communication is sent by email so it is important to read the emails to know what will be happening. To signup for the Club, please send an email to whs_robotics@comcast.net.

The meetings will consist of technical workshops, visit to high tech companies, and fundraising activities. Some workshops planned for the school year are:

- Transmission
- Pneumatic System
- Bolts and Nuts
- Fasteners
- Ethics
- Control System
- Programming

Team members will start building a prototype where students from the Club will be able to watch and learn.

Club members planning to be part of the Team must help to fundraise. The Team has to pay a $6000 registration fee for one regional competition, $4000 for a second regional and $5000 for the Championship (if we qualify). Another $4000 is needed for parts and material. Cost for transportation is not included. The funds and mentors for the Club come from the Team 1510.

ROBOTICS TEAM

The Team starts officially in the end of November, before the FIRST Kickoff, and runs until the last competition, around May. All Club members are welcome to apply to join the team. The application will consider the gracious professionalism demonstrated by students during the Club time, among others. Veteran students will be considered also by commitment to mandatory team activities on the previous years. Students are expected to follow the team Handbook, fill out and sign all forms.

It is a "cut" Team where safety and respect are highly enforced. Students will learn teamwork, dedication, leadership, communication, improve their listening and organizational skills and the meaning of gracious professionalism. Many the decisions are made by student vote. The objective of the team is not to win the competition but to learn.

There is a possibility to have summer activities depending on the interest of the students and mentors availability. Only Team members will participate in Summer project since they are designed as more advanced activities.

There will be a $200 non-refundable team fee that must be paid by December 15. Financial Aid is available to reduced and free lunch students. The fee includes one t-shirt and one sweatshirt.

The team have six weeks to build a fully functioning robot. A minimum of number of hours of work/learning is required for each team member. The Team meets almost every weekday and weekend starting in January so the # of hours requirement is easily met. The 2006 team worked an average of 150 hours and they participated in other extra curricular activities such as music, dance and sports, while taking Honor and AP courses. Team Captains worked more than 350 hours.

FIRST offers around 8 million dollars in scholarships to Team members.

Please contact us if you have any questions.